Barbara Ruth Fogleman was born on December 18, 1919 in Red Lodge, Montana to Nixon Dee and Bertha Fogleman, the youngest of five girls. She grew up in Red Lodge and when age fourteen, moved to Roslyn, Washington to live with a married sister. She finished the eighth grade in Roslyn and graduated from high school in Cle Elum, Washington. That fall, Ruth enrolled in Deaconess Hospital School of Nursing in Bozeman, Montana and attended Montana State College.
Ruth was united in marriage to Ray Alex Grooters on October 4, 1939 in Bozeman. Their happy marriage lasted for nearly 61 years, until the death of Ray in 2000. They had two children: a son, David and a daughter, Berthea.
Ruth was employed in the operating room at Deaconess Hospital in Spokane for five years and then as an office assistant to Dr. M.E. Calkins, a surgeon, for seven years.
Ruth loved teaching the Bible and has taught every age of children and adults all her married life. She has always been active in the church wherever they lived. She enjoyed memorizing various passages of the Bible, and has endeavored to read the Bible through at least once a year for the last forty years.
One of her favorite hobbies has always been sewing and she has made most of her own clothes since in high school.
She has always been an avid reader and enjoyed writing a number of stories for Christian publications.
One of her personal testimonies:  “I never really started to live until I met Christ, and accepted Him as my Savior.”
Ruth was preceded in death by her four sisters:  Montana, Francis, Lois, Louise. She also was preceded in death by her husband Raymond Alex Grooters, and son-in-law, Jimmie Lee Stout. She is survived by her brother-in-law Alec Grooters of Roslyn, Washington, her two children and daughter-in-law, Raymond David Grooters and wife Sandra of Arab, Alabama,  and Berthea Louise Stout of Nampa, Idaho. In addition she was blessed with 8 grandchildren, and numerous great-grandchildren.